The text is divided into two parts: "Part I: Studies in Eastern Deception Operations"; "Part II: Studies in Western Deception Operations." Surveillant 1.1 comments that the two Canadian authors
have presented "a fine analysis of deception." Campbell,
I&NS 6.1, finds that "[o]ne of the many attractions of
the collection is that the contributors, while scholarly, are not at all
squeamish about being judgemental."

The author discusses the deception/disinformation
aspects of the FBI-Army intelligence operation using Sgt. Joseph Cassidy,
described in David Wise, Cassidy's Run (2000), in connection with a similar operation run through Soviet Col. Dmitri Polyakov (Top Hat/Bourbon). Ben Fenton, "US Blunder 'Triggered Global Germ Bomb Race,'" Telegraph (London), 12 Mar. 2001, reports that on 11 March 2001 Garthoff had presented his argument about the negative effects of the Cassidy and Polyakov operations to "a conference of intelligence experts and former spies at Princeton University."

Melton, H. Keith, and Robert Wallace. The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception. New York: Morrow, 2009.

Peake, Studies 54.1 (Mar. 2010) and Intelligencer 17.2 (Winter-Spring 2010), notes that this work consists of two training manuals written in the 1950s by magician John Mulholland as part of the MKULTRA project -- Some Operational Applications of the Art of Deception and Recognition Signals. The volume "fills a historical gap" and "is an unexpected and valuable contribution."

The author "develops a theoretical approach to state-sponsored international economic deception within a transaction cost economics (TCE) framework.... The case of US arms sales to Iran during the mid-1980s is used to evaluate the theory."

Macartney, AFIO WIN 18-00 (5 May 2000), notes that this is the story of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Joseph Cassidy who "spent 23 years as an FBI double agent, feeding misleading information to his GRU handlers about US chemical weapons programs." According to Vernon Loeb, "IntelligenCIA: A Spy War Exposed," Washington Post, 1 May 2000, Operation SHOCKER was "the FBI's longest running [CI] case of the Cold War," lasting 21 years. Cassidy "exposed 10 Russian spy handlers and surfaced three 'illegal' Russian agents," while passing thousands of pages of "carefully vetted classified documents" to the Russians.

For Naftali, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2000, this work "is a meticulous reconstruction of a hitherto unknown counterespionage case.... Wise raises the possibility that the Cassidy deception operation backfired with horrendous consequences. Citing circumstantial evidence, he suggests that it compelled the Soviets to expand production of chemical weapons.... But lacking any rich sources in the chemical and biological weapons programs of the former Soviet Union, Wise is not able to build a persuasive case.... Wise has done readers a service in bringing Cassidy's remarkable tale to life."

See also, Raymond L. Garthoff, "Polyakov's Run," Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 56, no. 5 (Sep.-Oct. 2000): 37-40, which discusses the deception/disinformation aspects of the Cassidy operation in connection with a similar operation run through Soviet Col. Dmitri Polyakov (Top Hat/Bourbon).